Boston Flora

Month: September 2024

  • Monday, September 16, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm Eastern – Longwood Gardens: Still Growing, Online

    Smithsonian Associates presents an online lecture on September 16 at 7 pm on Longwood Gardens. For more than 115 years, Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, has been recognized as one of the world’s most important and beautiful collections of gardens and glasshouses. As he explores its indoor spaces, Karl Gercens, Longwood’s conservatory manager, draws on his quarter century of making and maintaining displays that have dazzled millions of visitors. Learn how the historic Orangery went from utilitarian citrus production to now displaying more than 50,000 pots of blooming flowers and trace the East Conservatory’s history of facelifts since its 1927 debut. 

    Gercens also previews the centerpiece of “Longwood Reimagined: A New Garden Experience,” a transformation of 17 acres of its conservatory and grounds. The 32,000-square-foot West Conservatory, scheduled to open in November, is built on the 19th-century tradition of glasshouses and incorporates new sustainable technologies. The steel-and-glass structure’s asymmetrical peaks will rise from a pool on which the entire building will seem to float, and its interior islands of Mediterranean-inspired gardens will be set amid pools, canals, and fountains in a tapestry-like design. Register at https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/programs/longwood-gardens-still-growing $25 for Smithsonian members, $30 for nonmembers.

  • Sunday, September 22, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – The Hurricane That Changed Mount Auburn

    The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 (aka the Yankee Clipper or Long Island Express) was the deadliest and most damaging hurricane to ever strike New York and New England. Making landfall on September 21, the Category 3 storm caused nearly 700 fatalities, left 63,000 people without homes, and toppled 275 million trees. In Massachusetts, storm surges measured between 18-25 feet and the hurricane’s greatest wave height of 50-feet was recorded in Gloucester.   

    Mount Auburn Cemetery lost more than 800 trees in a single day and over 1,000 more suffered significant damage. Despite all the damage, the Cemetery saw an opportunity to replant and replace what was lost while expanding and diversifying its collection. From 1939-1940 alone, over 1,500 new trees and shrubs were introduced to the Cemetery, many of which are still standing today. 

    Join Jim Gorman, arborist and MAC staff member, on September 22 at 1 pm for a curated tour of several of the now-mature trees planted after the hurricane.  Check in at Story Chapel. Registration required at https://www.mountauburn.org/event/the-hurricane-that-changed-mount-auburn/

  • Tuesday, September 17, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Backyard Bash!

    Join Friends of the Public Garden and partner Boston Parks & Recreation Department for the ultimate outdoor post-conference party at Parkman Bandstand on Boston Common. From 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 17, celebrate in your parks with lawn games, frozen delights, mocktails, a live DJ, great company, and so much more… The event is free and open to the public. It’s a fantastic opportunity to unwind, socialize, and meet new friends. Perhaps there will be cornhole.

  • Tuesday, September 10, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Goth Your Garden: Garden Design

    Want a garden that is more unusual than usual?  In this New England Botanic Garden design class on September 10 at 6 pm, you will learn about dark, spiky, leathery, and creeping plants for your goth-themed garden.  From native plants in shade gardens to dark leaves and flowers in full-sun gardens, we will cover a variety of planting situations and seasonal interest.   

    During this class, we will cover a variety of plants for every planting situation and every season.  We will also have a brief tour of the Garden to see some of the plants that we will discuss. In the second part of the class, we will discuss the basics of garden design and practice designing a small goth cottage garden.  We will also discuss adding plants with flare to an existing garden to help bring it to the dark side.

    Every garden needs some décor, and we will share a few ideas fit for the spookiest and most stylish house on the block.  The goal is to help you plan your garden in the fall so that you can plant it in the following spring. All materials included as well as a themed mocktail.

    Instructors: Meg Varnes & Liz Ives

    Meg Varnes has been with New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill for over 9 years.  She is the Conservatory and Formal Garden Horticulturist 2 and manages several hundred conservatory plants, thousands of orchids during the Orchid Exhibition, and the gardens surrounding the conservatories with a team of 2 gardeners.  She has a bachelor’s in Ornamental Horticulture and Floriculture from Delaware Valley University and is a lifetime gardener who loves connecting people with plants. Her favorite garden space at NEBG is The Court – A Garden Within Reach, because it allows her to use plants that stimulate all the senses and is a garden designed to be accessible to all.

    Liz Ives serves at the Registrar at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, where she is passionate about making art and arts education available to everyone. As a textile arts teacher with 25 years of experience in all types of education, from college lectures to private mentorship, Liz believes firmly that anyone can do art if they have a desire to try.

    Liz has a BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago in textile arts and an MA in history from Villanova University with a focus on material culture. She believes that learning about material culture, the things created and used in daily life, can teach us about the past and inform the present. In her personal life she enjoys sewing, weaving, spinning yarn, fashion history, quilting, natural dyeing, embroidery, and many other types of textile arts. As a long-time kitchen and garden witch she enjoys cultivating her own goth garden.

    $65 Member Adult; $75 Adult (Includes admission to the Garden) Register at www.nebg.org

  • Tuesday, September 17, 11:30 am – Child Fountain Restoration Project Ribbon Cutting

    The Friends of the Public Garden invite you to join them on September 17 to celebrate the Child Fountain Restoration Project, at the Arlington Street Gate to the Public Garden. Remarks begin at 11:30 am. The Child Fountain Restoration Project – and the accompanying landscape enhancements at the Arlington Street entrance – will ensure that the Public Garden is more accessible and welcoming to visitors. The leveled plaza and shallower basin around each fountain bring visitors closer to these works of art. A redesign of the granite surrounds enhances the fountains’ presence in the park while additional benches invite the public to sit and enjoy the space. New lighting has been added to highlight the sculptures and to add to the safety of the Garden.

  • Tuesday, September 17, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern – History of Gardens 2 – Botany and Botanical Art, Online

    The identification, depiction and celebration of plants is a key aspect of garden history, and one in which women have played a particularly important part. This highly illustrated talk will explore the role of female artists in floral and botanic art, focusing particularly on those working in the 17th century, but also looking forward to later artists. It will examine works by both ‘amateur’ and professional female artists including Giovanna Garzonni, Maria van Oosterwijck, Maria Sibylla Merian, Rachel Ruysch, Elizabeth Blackwell, Mary Moser, Mary Delany and Augusta Withers.

    This September 17 The Gardens Trust virtual talk is the second in our online course the History of Gardens 2, on Tuesdays. Sponsored by Wooden Books. Tickets £8 each (GT members £6) Sign up through Eventbrite HERE.

    This ticket is for this individual talk and costs £8, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire [second] series of 5 talks in our History of Gardens Course at £35 via the link here. (Gardens Trust members £6 each or all 5 for £26.25).

    Ticket holders can join each session live and/or view a recording for up to 2 weeks afterwards.

    Dr Twigs Way is a garden historian, writer and researcher. Much of her work has concentrated on the roles played by women in all forms of garden and plant-related spheres, and she is increasingly fascinated on the overlap between art, fashion, textiles and gardens. Her history of the chrysanthemum in art and culture was published by Reaktion in 2020 following an earlier work on the carnation. Twigs teaches for the Cambridge University Botanic Gardens and, from September 2024, will also be co-Course Director of the MA in Garden History at the University of Buckingham.

  • Saturday, September 21, 6:00 pm – Moondance Gala and Moondance After Dark

    Enjoy a spectacular, memory-making evening at the Esplanade Association’s Moondance Gala this September 21. The sparkling Charles River is the backdrop for sunset cocktails under the tree canopy, an elegant dinner and inspiring program in the Grand Tent, and dancing to cap off the night as the stars appear. Celebrate and support all that makes Boston’s iconic riverside park as vital and vibrant as it is today. For tickets and more information visit https://esplanade.org/moondance/

  • Tuesday, September 10, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm Eastern – Sea Change: The Gulf of Maine, Live and Online

    The New England Aquarium and GBH present a special behind-the-scenes look at NOVA’s three-part series Sea Change: The Gulf of Maine as part of the Aquarium’s Lowell Lecture Series. Featuring imagery by acclaimed film producer and veteran photojournalist Brian Skerry, the series examines the changes taking place in the Gulf of Maine, a body of water that is warming 97 percent faster than the global ocean. Blending science, exploration, natural history, and stories of human experience, Sea Change illuminates how the gulf may serve as a preview of what might happen in other parts of the world due to climate change. Free. Registration required at https://www.wgbh.org/events/boston-premiere-of-sea-change-the-gulf-of-maine-a-nova-special-presentation?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_10758959

    Join us on September 10 at 6:30 pm in person at Simons Theatre, New England Aquarium, 1 Central Wharf, or via live stream for a screening of highlights from the series followed by a panel discussion and Q&A with Skerry and other members of the filmmaking team about their experiences documenting and studying this spectacular wilderness, and how the communities that live and work along along the gulf’s shores are working to sustain its future. Panelists include:

    • Laurie Donnelly, Executive Producer, Sea Change, and Director of Lifestyle Programming, GBH
    • Dr. David Fields, Senior Research Scientist, Bigelow Labs
    • Brian Skerry, Photographer and Producer, Sea Change
    • Chun-Wei Yi, Writer, Director, and Producer, Sea Change
    • Moderated by Dr. Letise LaFeir, Chief of Conservation and Stewardship, New England Aquarium

    Free of charge and open to the public, the Lowell Lecture Series is made possible due to the generosity of the Lowell Institute. This event is presented in partnership with GBH. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and the program starts promptly at 6:30 p.m.
    NOVA is the most popular primetime science series on American television, demystifying the scientific and technological concepts that shape and define our lives, our planet, and our universe. NOVA is a production of GBH.

    Kelp Forest at Cashes Ledge; 70-miles off the coast of Maine

  • Thursday, September 5, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Eastern – In the Life of Jumping Spiders, Online

    Even amongst other bugs, spiders are often overlooked and misunderstood. But these ancient, diverse, and wonderfully weird creatures have a lot to teach us. And the best group of spiders to start with might be jumping spiders: they are colorful, clever, and even cute! Join The Xerces Society and spider scientist Dr. Sebastian Alejandro Echeverri on September 5 as he shares the incredible superpowers, dramatic lives, and unexpected beauty of jumping spiders! You will meet species that you can find in both your local gardens and across the world, and discover what makes them special.

    We will also explore the surprising ecological connections between spiders and other wildlife, as well as how to observe and interact with these animals at your comfort level. There will also be a Q&A session, so bring questions about spiders and other arachnids!

    This webinar will be recorded and available on our YouTube channel. Closed Captioning will be available during this Zoom webinar. Free. Learn more and register at https://www.xerces.org/events/webinars